Casa del Rio, Art Deco house in Newton Ferrers, England
Casa del Rio is an Art Deco house in Newton Ferrers, set on the banks of the River Yealm in Devon, England, with a white stucco exterior and geometric details. The building has eleven bedrooms alongside rooms such as a library, a billiards room, a heated indoor pool, and a cinema.
The house was built in 1936 by Walter Price, a baker who had studied his trade in California and drew inspiration from the Pickfair residence in Los Angeles. His choice of style reflects how Art Deco had reached even the more remote corners of rural England by that decade.
The BBC television program "Art Deco Icons" featured the house, bringing its architectural details to a wide audience. It is now regarded as one of the few surviving examples of this style in rural South Devon.
The house sits right on the riverbank, so the Yealm is immediately accessible from the grounds. With so many rooms spread across the property, it is worth setting aside plenty of time to move through each one properly.
The marble staircase in the monochrome tower hall was designed to resemble piano keys, which is an unexpected detail in a private home of this scale. This kind of playful touch is rarely found in British houses from that period.
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